Volcanic eruptions: Iceland goes code red to warn people

A recent volcanic eruption in Iceland has prompted the country’s met office to raise its warning levels to code red. This warning alert became necessary when a fissure or crack in the earth that is almost 1km long is seen to emit lava from the volcano near the Vatnajokull glacier.

Although the Icelandic Met Office maintains that the eruptions from the vent does not contain volcanic ash or risen high into the sky to the point of disrupting air flights, “scientists who have been at work close to the eruption monitor the event at a safe distance.”
A geophysicist from the Icelandic Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management, Bjorn Oddsson, states that the emissions are low and not threatening to anyone at the moment. “It’s mostly effusive, there’s no ash in the air, and now even in the vicinity. So mostly lava is pouring out of the craters right now and the only flight restriction is over the area. All airports are open, and things are quite in control.”

Although researchers are presently examining several cauldrons near the Bardarbunga area to detect traces of any eruptions, fears of the kind of volcanic ash eruption that happened in 2010 at the Eyjafjallajokull volcano has been rested as highly unlikely this time. This one produced a lot of ash that spread across Europe and even disrupted air flights in 2010; but this time, there is no fears of such happening at this present moment.